Choosing the Right Deck for the NAWCQ

It’s that time of the year again guys! The North American World Championship Qualifier 2013 is just around the corner and the European Championship 2013 has just passed. Congrats to Greece’s Chris Bountaloudis is now the new European Champion thanks to his Spellbook deck. The finals came down to a Spellbook vs. Dragon Ruler matchup and it came to a close rather quickly. After all, Dragon Ruler can’t do much when staring down a field of [ccProd]Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer[/ccProd], [ccProd]Jowgen the Spiritualist[/ccProd], and a set card that is more than likely a live [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd]. Congrats to Michel Grüner for getting second place as well as all others who have earned their invites to the World Championship in Las Vegas, Nevada!

Just because Prophecy won the European Championship does not mean it is the best deck. The same can be said for all of the people saying Dragon Ruler is the best deck. It is obvious at this point that these two decks are rather powerful and probably going to take you far in a tournament, but with only a couple of weeks left, it is important that you pick a deck and hopefully master it. There are tricks we can learn and tips we can listen to that can hopefully get us to the top of our game with whatever decks we chose, but in order to catch these tricks and learn these tips, we need time for testing and learning. I would like to discuss some of the top decks of the format in this article in order to hopefully help you set your decision in stone!

Dragon Ruler
Dragon Ruler has proven to be a strong deck in the meta. It just came in second at this past European WCQ and it has won a handful of Nationals. Everyone and their mother is trying to pick up Mecha Phantom Beast Dracossack and Number 11: Big Eye at $100+ a piece. It is obvious that this deck is one of the most expensive and powerful, but don’t let it get you down if you can’t afford it because there are still other options! I recommend this deck to anyone who has the money to invest in it and has the time to master it.

Spellbook
Spellbook has been a rather controversial deck in this somewhat simple metagame. A lot of players initially were trying to stay away from it because of their fear of cards like Droll & Lock Bird and especially [ccProd]Eradicator Epidemic Virus[/ccProd], but the fact of the matter is that it is going to be pretty tough to get around all of the sheer advantage that the deck can achieve. A highly skilled Spellbook player will know how to properly play around Droll & Lock Bird and even [ccProd]Eradicator Epidemic Virus[/ccProd] to an extent. I highly recommend this deck to any player. It is rather inexpensive and is one of the best decks of the format.

Mermail
Once considered the best deck, Mermail is now fading away and passing the throne to the two decks mentioned above. It can still win a lot of games, thanks to the broken rank 7’s that we have, but it just can’t keep up with the way the format is right now. Dragon Rulers can Maxx “C” or [ccProd]Swift Scarecrow[/ccProd] or simply counterattack with their own Number 11: Big Eye. Prophecy can drop a [ccProd]Jowgen the Spiritualist[/ccProd] backed up by a [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd] and the Mermail Player will go running. Evilswarm will drop an [ccProd]Evilswarm Ophion[/ccProd] and the Mermail Player will have to try and get a timely [ccProd]Atlantean Heavy Infantry[/ccProd] to trigger on [ccProd]Evilswarm Ophion[/ccProd] and they will also have to pray that the Evilswarm player doesn’t have [ccProd]Forbidden Dress[/ccProd], [ccProd]Dark Illusion[/ccProd], or [ccProd]Safe Zone[/ccProd]. I do not recommend this deck at the moment.

Evilswarm
Evilswarm was one of the most hyped decks coming into this post-tachyon metagame. Players were thrilled to have an inexpensive way to play a competent deck in the playing field. It could counter Spellbook’s High Priestess, almost everything in Mermail, and almost everything in Dragon Ruler. Sounds good right? NOPE. The format quickly evolved. This card answers this card answers this card answers this card etc. Prophecy moved to a rather unique route of running no [ccProd]High Priestess of Prophecy[/ccProd] and much more consistent spell cards, Mermail pretty much faded as a deck, and Dragon Ruler found a few tricks to keep up and as a result, Evilswarm is slowly fading away similar to how Mermail once was. I do not recommend this deck at the moment.

Constellar
Constellar is a deck that has seen some success in the metagame recently. I feel as though it is starting to overshadow Evilswarm as a deck because of the fact that they both try to do similar things, and Constellar can just do those things better. It has one of the most powerful XYZ monsters I have ever read ([ccProd]Constellar Pleiades[/ccProd]) as well as some other neat tricks. Unfortunately, most of these tricks rely on XYZing into a Rank 4 Monster. This deck can do some damage to the top tier decks at the moment so I actually recommend it to anyone who is willing to give it a shot!

Those were all the decks that everyone considers to be “Tier 1,” but lets take a look at some under the radar decks.

Frog Monarch
Frog Monarchs will always be one of my favorite decks of all time, and I feel like it does have a small spot in this meta, so I would like to give it a mention. It runs a plethora of hand traps so it can keep up with Dragon Ruler for the most part, but when paired up against Spellbook, things are just bound to go downhill. Spellbook’s [ccProd]Spellbook of Fate[/ccProd], [ccProd]Jowgen the Spiritualist[/ccProd], [ccProd]Kycoo the Ghost Destroyer[/ccProd], and even [ccProd]Spellbook of Wisdom[/ccProd] can demolish your day rather quickly. Frog Monarch is a rather passive deck, and it can get away with it because of it’s hand traps, but Spellbook will take full advantage of that by getting their +372 every turn.

Redox Gadget
The “[ccProd]Tin Goldfish[/ccProd] Gadget Deck” was gaining popularity rather quickly not to long ago when Mermail and Fire Fist reigned supreme, and now it has a new trick up it’s sleeve. Redox, Dragon Ruler of Boulders’s second effect is nothing to be overlooked and it does a hell of a lot in a deck like Gadgets. Redox adds the ability to summon a Gadget, search a gadget, then discard that gadget for Redox, and special summon a gadget to search another gadget. From there you can XYZ the 2 Gadgets for whatever rank 4 you need for the situation. This deck can also spit out Number 16: Shock Master, rather easily! I would say that that is the best card to make this format if possible. Redox Gadget can definitely do some powerful things this format, and while it may not be considered tier 1, I still think it is quite the powerhouse. If you have interest in a deck like this, I strongly suggest you give it a shot and see if you like it. Constellar may, however, just be the better pick here.

That about sums up the decks I wanted to cover today. Make sure that whatever deck you decide to bring to the WCQ is a deck you feel comfortable with. That is the most important thing! And don’t feel discouraged if I didn’t include the deck you are comfortable with in this article. We all have our own preferences (or maybe even top secret answers to the meta.) I hope you all enjoyed this week’s article! Make sure to stay tuned for more, and until next time play hard or go home!

Discussion

Also, I’m surprised that you didn’t mention Karakuri Psychics. Thanks to Naturia Beast and their ability to easily get an otk, this deck can easily overwhelm a prophecy deck; plus if High Priestess is used then the Karakuri player also has access to bureido for going the deck fast to get neccessary cards to stop monster effects. Along with Prophecy this deck has the potential to beat edrags. It can beat them by getting a full field of monsters for game or by using some synchros plus anti-monster effect cards.

AliasNorth

It may not be a bad idea to try out conversion siding, if you’re going to be playing one of the two biggest decks in Game 2, since everyone’s sidedecks are going to be devoted to dealing with you.

JDude042

I’ve been using Constellars on Dueling Network ever since they’ve been TCG legal with Sombre and I’ve gotten extremely comfortable with the deck, so much that this is the first time I’ve competently built a good side deck for any deck I’ve made. While Dragon Rulers and Spellbooks can be broken beyond belief when they have Super Rejuvenation and Spellbook of Judgment, Constellars can put up a good fight against both with proper side deck choices.

Christian Balzano

What about madolches?

AliasNorth

inb4 they’re the rogue deck that goes 2nd, just because some asshole sided Transmigration Break on them.

Wesley Toulouse

hero’s have outlived their lifestyle?

Nick Habeeb

So this article basically sums up to you either play dragons or prophecy or you just don’t show up at all.

Anon

^that or constellars. six sams should’ve gotten at least a small mention though for their great prophecy match up.

wats up nigga

six sams is also the other deck (besides gadgets) that can shock master RELATIVELY easily

AliasNorth

Not to mention, they can make Naturia Beast. Since they’re not just a synchro threat, they also have a potentially good matchup vs Verz, if they were to use cards such as Lance that take advantage of the damage step. Samurai can use Soul Drain (something that also hurts dragons) in the main deck to help deal with their bad Mermail matchup. I don’t know how well they fare vs Constellar, but I imagine simple one for one removal could be enough.

Max Randolph

But then you have dragon ruler, mermail, and constellar that shit on six sams